LAWRENCE, Kan. — Cash-strapped college athletics departments have the latest innovation in marketing for big-time athletics — the sports mortgage.
At University of Kansas, fans who sign up to pay as much as $105,000 over 10 years will earn the right to buy guaranteed top seats for football over the next three decades. In return, the seats stay locked in at 2010 prices. University of California fans have even more latitude — 30 years to pay for a half-century’s worth of season football tickets. Like a home mortgage, the long-term deal requires the equivalent of annual interest payments.
The new pricing plans, known as “equity seat rights,” are being pitched as a win-win for fans and teams.
“Even in difficult financial times, the price of the best seats in professional stadiums and university programs go up,” said Lou Weisbach, Stadium Capital Financing’s chief executive. “This is the ultimate solution for the shortfalls universities are facing in their athletics programs.”
